


When the Internet Came to Storybrooke

by freifraufischer



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 13:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freifraufischer/pseuds/freifraufischer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina played a lot of chess on the internet during the curse...</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Internet Came to Storybrooke

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a tumblr prompt: Regina passes the curse by playing chess (or Diplomacy?) by mail. Legends of the mysterious woman in Maine who crushes all opponents optional.

The day the curse updated the town’s technology and Regina found herself with an email address and internet access was the best moment of her life. Well, before Henry came along. Not that it made the world any less boring. How many times could she sit through the same school board meeting and pass out awards for the same winner of the same fourth grade spelling bee.

But what she could do was play chess. Really well. It was one of those things she’d hated doing when she was a child. Her mother insisted she play and insisted she won. She’d had two tutors fired when they didn’t prove challenging enough opponents for Regina to excel. Or rather, at the time, Regina hoped they’d just been fired. One never knew with Cora.

At first there were usenet groups, and then webrings, and list serves. She played in the evening after finishing up city business. She played during very dull meetings with people she’ hated. Which was everyone so she played a lot.

The first time she beat a world champion the online chest community figured it was a fluke.

The tenth time some MIT students in the chess world tried to find her. But hackers were no match for the Dark Curse that hid the town. Once, she heard after the fact, two reporters from the Boston Globe had driven up and down the Maine coast chasing a human interest story and never found her.

Eventually, when Henry came and she was playing less, most people had decided she wasn’t real anyway. Just some advanced computer program. Maybe a Pentagon war game computer. Maybe the funding had been cut or the project shut down.

But really… her little prince took up more of her attention than chess pieces ever could.


End file.
